Beginning Blogging: Editorial Calendars

Many people start a blog and have a great deal of fun for the first two weeks. After that it becomes a drag to them as they try to decide what to write about. An editorial calendar can help overcome this tendency.

An Editorial Calendar is a calendar that lists the things you are going to write about. It is very helpful for listing specific topics that you want to talk about at specific times of the year. You can use any calendar you choose; an online calendar, a spreadsheet in Excel, or an old-fashioned wall calendar. Use whatever works for you.

Organizing Holiday and Seasonal Blog Posts

An editorial calendar can help you plan for holidays. (They do seem to really jump out at you if you don’t plan for them.) For instance, if you have a great idea for New Year’s Resolutions, it’s a good idea to post the article at the end of December. If you wait until the middle of January, you will have lost a lot of traffic because people are searching for articles about keeping New Year’s Resolutions around the holiday.

It’s also helpful when you get an idea that’s off season. For instance if in July you have a great idea for a New Year’s Resolution, you can go ahead and write the post and just note it on your calendar. The same thing goes for other topics. If you have a gardening site and you have some great ideas for spring planting, but it’s August, write your article and note it on your calendar for planting time (which is February or March where I live.)

Organizing Recurring Blog Posts

An editorial calendar helps you to organize posts. You may have different types of posts such as “tips,” “customer stories,” and “new FAQ’s” You can plan these posts so you are consistent in adding them to your website and you have different types of articles coming out all the time.

This can also help you keep on a consistent posting schedule so you don’t go several weeks without updating your blog. Most people stop adding posts because they are out of topic ideas. An hour spent with an editorial calendar each month can overcome this.

Organizing Blog Topics

Most blogs discuss more than one topic. Even niche blogs (blogs on very narrow topics) break these topics down into smaller subtopics. Having an editorial calendar can help you with a series of posts (like the series you are reading right now on beginning blogging). It can help you spread out your topics if desired. A great example is if you have a blog on desserts. On Mondays you could discuss cakes; Tuesdays healthy desserts; Wednesdays pies; Thursdays cookies; and reserve Fridays exclusively for chocolate (my favorite day and dessert).

An editorial calendar can actually help you think of ideas for articles as you sit down and ponder the upcoming month. Grab your calendar for January right now and think about what you want to write on. New Year’s Resolutions? Martin Luther King Jr.? Winter? If you can’t come up with any ideas, try Brownielocks a site that lists lots of holidays and other observances. You’re sure to find one that ties into your subject.

So, what other things can you think of that could be put on an editorial calendar?

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